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OUR GREAT NATIOIAL REPROACH j 

AND ; 

®i)t CouiistI of ^I)ilj)o{ij)cl aiirncb into Jfoolisljiifss. \ 



TWO SERMONS 



PREACHED IB 



St. JAMES' CHURCH, ECKLEY, PENNA., 



By Rev. PETER RUSSELL, Rector. 



( THE FIRST ON THE OCCASrON OF THE FUNERAL SOLEMNITIES 
OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN. 



( 



( THE SECOND ON THE LATE FAST DAY. (JUNK 1st.) 



■I 



) PUBLISHED BY BEQUEST OF MEMBERS OF THE CONaREaATION. 




PHILADELPHIA: 

KING & BAIRD, PRINTERS, 607 SANSOM STREET. 

1865. 



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OUU Gl^EAT xNATIONAL liEPROAClI 

AND 

^i Counsel of Ijjitljopljd Cunub into ioolisljiuss. 
TWO SERMONS 



PREACHED IH 



St. JAMES' CHURCH, ECKLEY, PENNA. 
By Rev. PETER RUSSELL, Rector. 



THE FIEST ON THE OCCASION OF THE FUNERAL SOLEMNITIES 
OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN. 



THE SECOND ON THE LATE FAST DAT, (JUNE 1st.) 



PUBLISHED BY REQUEST OF MEMBERS OP THE CONGREGATION. 



PHILADELPniA: 
KING & BAIRD, PRINTERS, 607 SANSOM STREET. 

1805. 



.8 



V^.-„, .....,.«y 



OUR GREAT NATIONAL REPROACH. 



4 



SEEM ON. 



Lamentations of Jeremiah, v. i. 

Remember, Lord, what is come upon us. Consider and behold our reproach. 

The season of Easter is a season of joy and gladness, 
the season when we commemorate the triumph of our Lord 
and Saviour, Jesus Christ, over death and the grave. But 
this Easter season has been one of sorrow and gloom: joy's 
bright sun seems to have set in night. A heavy woe has 
befallen us : a calamity, such as no great nation has suffered 
for two hundred years, has come upon us. 

Our Chief Magistrate has fallen. Not in leading our 
armies against the enemies of the nation ; not upon a dying 
bed, with his strength wasting away by some lingering dis- 
ease : for then we could have borne it : but he is stricken 
down by the murderous villany of man. We are reminded 
of the lamentation of David over one who fell in a similar 
manner : " Died Abner as a fool dieth. Thy hands were 
not bound, nor thy feet put in fetters. As a man falleth 
before wicked men, so fellest thou. And all the people 
wept again for him." Thus we wept as soon as we heard 
of it, and we are inclined to weep again as often as we make 
mention of it. 

We were all astounded at the first announcement of this 
melancholy fact. We were slow to believe that such a crime 
had really been committed. We read the account over and 
over again. We desired to see other papers. But all told 
the same horrible tale. Then we caught at the faint hope 
which remained, that the wound might not prove fatal. 
But this lasted only a little while ; for as soon as we learned 



the nature of the injury, we saw that without a miracle he 
could not survive. Yea, we were forced to admit that he 
was already dead, though we had not as yet seen the official 
announcement. 

Has it come to this? wee xclaimed. Where are we? In 
what land ? Crimes there had been enough committed al- 
ready, we had thought. Crimes against humanity, crimes 
against the civilization of the age in which we live, crimes 
against Christianity, crimes against heaven and earth — 
against God and man ; but to all this must be added, the 
assassination of the head of the nation, its worthy and hon- 
ored Chief Magistrate. It was as if the father of every 
famil}^ and household had been murdered. The mourning 
in the land is like to that of old, in that country wherein 
there was not a house in which there was not one dead. 
True, in this instance, there has not been a beloved member 
of every household stricken down, but our sorrow and grief 
are almost as deep as if every household mourned its head 
or first-born. Such a crime as this was never committed in 
our country before. Yea, I may say it was a crime which 
was never committed in the New World. 

Whether the parties immediately concerned in it were 
the agents of an extensive conspiracy, I know not; This 
will doubtless be disclosed and brought to the light of day 
in due season. Whether many or few are implicated, it is 
a pity for them that they did not remember the old threat : 
" Be sure your sin will find you out." It is a sin which 
cannot be always concealed. The authors, the aiders and 
abettors of such deeds are often discovered in the most 
unlikely and mysterious of ways. It would almost seem 
that while they are plotting and guarding against discov- 
ery, using all possible caution and secrec}^, that Divine 
Providence was overruling and directing the minutest cir- 
cumstances so as to prepare the way for unraveling the 
deepest-laid schemes of villany. This has oftentimes been 
effected by means which, as Dr. South says, were almost as 
much above nature as the crimes contemplated, or actually 



committed, were against nature; and wMch verifies the 
declaration of the Psalmist: ''Verily, there is a God that 
judgest in the earth." 

In the words of the late Daniel Webster: "Such secrets 
can be safe nowhere. The whole creation of God has neither 
nook nor corner where the guilty can bestow it, and say it 
IS safe. Not to speak of that Eye which gleams through all 
disguises and beholds all things as the splendors of noon, 
such secrets of guilt are never safe from detection, even by 
men. A thousand eyes turn at once to explore every man, 
every circumstance connected with the time and place ; a 
thousand ears catch every whisper; a thousand excited 
minds dwell intently on the scene, shedding all their light, 
and ready to kindle the slightest circumstance into a blaze 
of discovery. Meanwhile, the guilty soul cannot keep its 
own secret. It is false to itself, or rather it feels an irre- 
sistible impulse to be true to itself. It labors under its 
guilty possession, and knows not what to do with it. The 
human heart was not made for the residence of such an in- 
habitant. It finds itself preyed upon by a torment which 
it dares not acknowledge to God or man. A vulture is prey- 
ing upon it, and it can ask no sympathy from heaven or 
earth. The secret which he possesses soon comes to possess 
him ; and, like the evil spirits of which we read, it over- 
comes him, and leads him whithersoever it will. He feels 
it beating at his heart, rising to his throat, and demanding 
disclosure. He thinks the whole universe sees it in his 
face, beholds it in his eyes, and almost hears it working in 
his thoughts. It becomes his master. It betrays his dis- 
cretion. It breaks down his courage. It conquers his 
prudence. When suspicions from without begin to embar- 
rass him, and the net of circumstances to entangle him, the 
fatal secret struggles with still greater violence to burst 
forth. It must be confessed. It will be confessed. 

And then, again, there is no land under the sun to which 
such criminals can flee and take refuge. All p-ood and 



8 

true men in all lauds will be filled with dismay wlien they 
hear of the crime which has been committed in our day 
and our land. We have, indeed, heard of a person here and 
there who has had the hardihood to applaud and defend it ; 
but such instances are happily rare. And it is well for the 
credit of our country, and our age, and our common hu- 
manity, that they are rare. For any man who approves of 
this deed partakes of the guilt of the crime itself, and, in 
the sight of God, and upon a moral account, he is a mur- 
derer and an assassin. I would not desire to live in the 
same community in which such a man resides. I would 
not willingly permit such a man to come under my roof. 
I would not sleep in the same house with him. I would 
be afraid of him. I would not trust my life in his hands, 
for he has the heart of a murderer ; and I never could tell 
when, or under what circumstances he might be instigated 
and pushed on by the Devil to commit actual murder. 

The crime is so great, so immense, that until I have the 
evidence before me, I will never affirm or believe that 
many persons in any section of our country could have 
had any knowledge that such a deed was seriously con- 
templated. I hope it will be generally, if not universally, 
denounced in the whole South. We know that some have 
spoken; that twenty -two thousand prisoners at Point Look- 
out have denounced it. God forbid that any considerable 
number of our Southern people should assume the guilt 
of this crime and make it their own, by applauding it, 
approving of it, and boldly proclaiming that it is just what 
they desired and counselled. Alas for them if generals 
and governors, and congressmen, and legislators, and pa- 
pers, and public meetings should justify it ! If this be so, 
I tremble for what may follow. It is an awful thing to 
rouse the anger of a great and mighty nation into fury— 
a nation which has at its command and in its service an 
army of seven hundred thousand men, perfect in disci- 
pline, courage, and skill in warfare, commanded by offi- 
cers who have their superiors in no country. Also a navy 



of six hundred ships, armed with artillery the most de- 
structive ever used on this earth. It is an awful thino-, I 
say, to goad on the anger of such a nation until it becomes 
ungovernable fury. 

The people of the Southern section of our country have 
made large claims for the superiority of their civilization 
and Christianity over that of the North. These claims 
are now on trial before the world. To quote the language 
of Dr. Dix, " We wait to hear what they will say. They 
must speak; and the whole world will listen to every 
word which they utter. The judgment is set and the books 
are opened. Christian civilization waits attentively to hear 
them speak. There is but one thing for them to do if 
they would stand in this audit : to denounce the act — to 
join in the common cry against the outrage done to God, 
to man, to Christ, to the age — to disclaim its responsibility 
— to shrink back from that bloody act, to say, we, too, are 
men — Christianized men — we abhor as much as you can 
a deed like this — charge it not on us — think not of us as 
though we would excuse or defend a crime fit only for a 
barbarous zone, and from which, with the enlightened 
world, and as acceptors of the principles of Christianity, 
we equally with yourselves revolt in disgust and horror. 
It is with indescribable anxiety many are now waiting 
for the response of the Southern people to this atrocious 
murder, which has been committed in their name. We 
will not think the worst until all hope is gone. We will 
hope against hope ; but if it must be so, then, indeed, will 
it seem as if hope was at an end ; as if all that has been 
said were just ; as if the charges hitherto had not been 
rash ; and, so far as that community is regarded, impartial 
lips must be silent henceforth." This last and most he- 
nious of their crimes, which is the filling up of the mea- 
sure of their iniquity, will prove to the world that they 
have committed, or are capable of committing, all those 
lesser crimes which have been charged to their account : 
and what is to follow God only knows. 



10 

But so awful a calamity whicli has befallen us, must 
have serious and solemn lessons for us, which, if we are wise, 
we will attend to and learn. Our business is not to rouse 
the passions of men and to excite their indignation, for we 
know only too well, that men have been fearfully excited 
already. Their anger, sorrow, and horror have been al- 
most unbearable, and a word might lash them into uncon- 
trolable rage or phrenzied madness. When we remember 
what men are, what mighty passions slumber in every one's 
breast, it is wonderful that more acts of violence have not 
been heard of. Forbearance so great under such provoca- 
tion is almost unparalleled. We are amazed at it our- 
selves, and it must be a marvel to the world, and can only 
have come from God who controls the wills and affections 
of unruly men. 

To improve this sad national affliction, let us view it in 
the light of Scripture, and not contemplate it as if God 
had forsaken the earth *and vacated his throne. We must 
not forget that " The Lord God omnipotent reigneth." Let 
us look to him for guidance and protection, and if we do 
so, then the burthen of our prayer will be that of the 
weeping prophet, lamenting over the woes of Jerusalem : 
" Eemember, Lord, what is come upon us. Consider 
and behold our reproach." Oh, who will describe our re- 
proach ? We are bowed down with shame and grief. 
But is there not a cause for such reproach? Ah, yes! 
only too much, and it becomes us to bow in submission 
to God's will and say with the Psalmist, " I was dumb and 
opened not my mouth because Thou didst it." We have 
lost sight of God. We have idolized the human instru- 
ment. We have put our confidence in man, in our rulers, 
our generals, our armies, rather than in God. And this 
is a species of dishonor which God has ever resented. 

There is no doctrine more frequently and more plainly 
delivered in the Bible than that all things are overruled 
and governed by a wise Providence ; and that those events, 
in the accomplishment of which the abilities of men emi- 



11 

nent for prudence; and courage, and other endowments 
wliicli deservedly gain public admiration, are employed, 
must not yet be regarded as having been brought about 
without the concurrence of a still superior wisdom and 
power. 

This is a truth which we have largely forgotten. We 
have lost sight of the fact, that as God is. the Bestower of 
every good and perfect gift, so He is, in an especial man- 
ner, of all public and national blessings. It is necessary 
that we have a firm persuasion of this truth would we 
rightly value the mercy received. The temporal blessings 
which God bestows may be invaluable; the dangers and 
perils we escape may be fearful ; but we always regard 
them as more precious when we look upon God as the 
Bestower of the good and the Deliverer from the evil. 
And certainly no thought can be more comfortable, than 
that God, who is the Preserver of men, careth for us ; that 
the Lord of all things delightethrto do us good ; for that 
which adds the greatest price to any national mercy is, that 
it bears the signature of Heaven, and is sent as a sure 
token of the Divine favor. 

And as this reflection will afford us a proper sense of the 
valuableness of the blessings bestowed or the deliverances 
vouchsafed to us, so also, will it excite in our minds a due 
respect and veneration for those worthy patriots whom God 
is pleased to select as the ministers of His Providence in 
conveying his blessings to the sons of men. The fame of 
such men may be great and Avide spread. They may be of 
high rank and dignity, of great ability and moral worth 
and strong in the affections of the people. Yet these 
honors a^e of little worth in comparison with the greater 
glory which redounds to such from their being as it were 
the special agents of God through whom He dispenses His 
blessings to a people and nation. Great things are said of 
Naaman in the holy stor}?-, that he was "captain of the 
hosts of the king of Syria," that he was a "great man with 
his master an honorable," but the finishing stroke of his 



V2 

cliaracter is this that, " by him the Lord had given deliver- 
ance unto Syria." 

Chief among such worthy and honored Patriots was our 
late beloved Chief Magistrate, who, in greatness and good- 
ness, in wisdom and integrity, must ever rank next to 
"Washington. 

Another lesson we may learn; and that is repentance. 
God afflicted our nation, sorely afflicted it, but we repented 
not. Men, alas, seemed to grow more world Ij^ every day ; 
and that which made it the worse was that they were thus 
impenitent when God's sore judgments were in the land, 
and pressing upon us. 

I must confess that I have experienced for many months 
continual sorrow of heart, as I thought of the insensibility 
of so many of our people. They failed utterly to realize 
the solemnity of the times in which we live. Never did 
anything so discourage me in the whole twenty years of my 
ministry. Extravagance, absorption in business, indul- 
gence in worldly amusements and fashionable follies, might 
well be described as unparalleled in the history of the country; 
and when we reflected that all this was taking place in time 
of civil war, dreadful civil war, in which hundreds of thou- 
sands had fallen, and for all we knew as many more might 
fall, it seemed unnatural, almost inhuman. For had we no 
sympathy with this untold amount of suffering ? As I 
thought of all of this, I could not exult in the success of 
our armies as most did. I had fearful forebodings of some 
coming woe, which would make all feel. In what form the 
woe might come I knew not, it did not appear likely that 
it would be in the form of foreign intervention ; the time for 
that had passed. The downfall of the rebellion seemed 
certain. I thought it might be that financial crisis which it 
was predicted was near at hand, and which would affect 
the profits, the business and means of living of every man, 
and make all feel. But the woe has come in another form 
different from anything which occurred to my mind ; and 
we have felt it deeply. The national heart has been filled 



13 

witli grief siicli as it never felt before. Will we repent 
now ? Will we realize the awful truth that God has a con- 
troversy with us ? Most certainly we have all need to utter 
the prayer of the text — "Eemember, Lord, what is come 
upon us. Consider and behold our reproach." 

We should also at this time try hard to yield up our- 
selves to the control of a mild, gentle and forbearing tem- 
per; we should strive to have the same mind which our 
Saviour possessed when he prayed, " Father, forgive them, 
for they know not what they do." We must not indulge 
in feelings of personal revenge. A great crime has indeed 
been committed — a crime which every right-minded man 
feels almost as much as if his own father had been basely 
assassinated. The provocation to anger and revenge is 
fearful, but we must moderate it. Heavy as is the woe 
which has come upon us, it is one which we richly deserve, 
and this ought to mitigate our resentment, calm our pas- 
sions and aid us in keeping them within the bounds of 
reason. We are to consider that whatever we suffer is 
appointed of God, that whatever be the wickedness of men, 
we can suffer nothing from their wickedness except what 
God for wise reasons sees fit that we should suffer. Thi« 
being so, it must follow that we are more concerned with 
God than man. Man may indeed be the rod used in 
scourging us ; it is yet God who strikes, and a due rever- 
ence for God and His judgments will make us take the 
less notice of men, the mere instruments of our shame and 
reproach. This view of the case will leave us little cause 
to be angry with men except their own wickedness. We 
may be angry with their malice, their ill-will, but we must 
submit to what has come upon us as the will of our God. 
This ought to moderate our passions as it leaves so little of 
self in our anger. The more we attribute our reproach to 
God and the less to man, the more free will our souls be 
from any feeling of mere personal revenge ; and Ave will re- 
member who has said " Vengeance is mine : I will repay, 
saith the Lord." 



14 

I will present one thouglit more. On every side are tlie 
emblems of sorrow, of woe and mourning in our churclies, 
in our houses, on our persons. It is well that it is so. Thus 
it should be. It is right and becoming to weep for the 
dead, especially when the dead is the head of a mighty 
people, a great and good man who was rapidly drawing 
to himself the hearts of all classes of our people, and se- 
curing the confidence of foreign governments. All this is 
well, all this is becoming. 

But how many of us have great need to weep for our- 
selves and our children, for both we and they, it may be, 
are yet in rebellion against our God and Saviour. Yes, 
" there are many, very many whose hearts beat for their 
country's cause and welfare who are dead to the patriotism 
of a better country, — that is an heavenly. Those who boast 
and it may be, truly and honorably boast, that they love 
and appreciate our Constitution and free Institutions, may 
yet have no feeling or understanding for the magnificent 
polity of heaven. Alas, we worship the shadow of power, 
and have no adoration for the substance. "We pour out a 
world of feeling — treasures of rich and noble emotion — upon 
the instruments of authority, the mere subordinates of God, 
and we have no loyalty for Him who moves the whole 
machiner}'', and from whom all power is derived, whether 
it be in the physical universe of matter and motion, or in 
the world of Governments, Principalities, Powers and 
Laws." 



®Ije Ccunstl of |.j}ttj)opljd £unub info J^oolisljiuss 



2 SAMUEL, svii. 14. 



The Lord had appointed to defeat the good counsel of Ahithopliel, to the intent that the 
Lord might bring evil upon Absalom. 



My hearers are doubtless well acquainted witli that 
period of Jewish history to which the text refers. There 
was a rebellion in those days against the lawful govern- 
ment, and a daring attempt made to overthrow it, just as 
there has been in our time a rebellion against the consti- 
tuted authorities of the laud, and gigantic efforts put forth 
to overturn the government under which we live. 

That was a wicked rebellion, most unnatural, because it 
was a misguided son making war upon a fond and over- 
indulgent father, whom he had resolved to dethrone. No 
less monstrous and unnatural is our rebellion ; because it 
is a war waged against the noblest and most forbearing 
government upon which the sun has ever shone ; a gov- 
ernment, too, which has freely and lavishly bestowed its 
honors and its offices upon the leaders ; it has nourished 
and brought up children, and they have rebelled against it. 

That rebellion had on its side and in its interest the 
wisest and most sagacious of human counsellors, the most 
profound statesman and shrewdest politician of the time. 
" For the counsel of Ahithophel, which he counselled in 
those days, was as if a man had inquired of the oracle of 
God; so was all the counsel of Ahithophel, both with 
David and Absalom." 

So, also, has the rebellion in our day and in our own 
land been planned and matured by the wisest and most 
sagacious counsellors which this, or any other land, has 



18 

produced. At the head of it, and arranging it, were men 
skilled in the politics of their country ; men who had ex- 
ercised a controlling influence over the government, both 
in its foreign and domestic policy. Long had they been 
preparing for the "inevitable conflict." Deep, far-reaching 
and all-comprehensive were their plans. They had ample 
time and opportunities allowed them to have all things in 
perfect readiness when the period for the great struggle 
should come. I imagine, if all were known of this rebel- 
lion, of its origin, the means used for bringing it to ripe- 
ness, how much was thought of it, how much was done, 
how much was guarded against, the efforts put forth to gain 
friends and sympathy abroad, also to foment discord and 
dissension at home, — I imagine, if all this were known, the 
world would by common consent pronounce it the " Master- 
piece of Human Wisdom." 

In Absalom's rebellion, special arts were used to detach 
the masses of the people from his father David. The arch 
rebel " rose early and stood beside the way of the gate," to 
show his concern for the public good and tender his assist- 
ance to those who came to the King for justice. Of each 
he made conciliatory inquiries, assured them their cause 
was good, lamented there was no one to administer impar- 
tial justice, and concluded with convenient modesty by 
saying that " if he were Judge in Israel, every man who 
had a suit or cause mio-ht come unto him and be sure of re- 
ceiving justice." Thus, by flattering speeches and profuse 
promises, "did Absalom steal the hearts of the men of 
Israel." And how similar to these arts were those which 
the rebel leaders used in order to " fire the Southern heart !" 
How large were the promises which they made of a mighty 
Southern Confederacy to embrace all Mexico and the West 
Indies ! And what false charges, too, were made against 
the government, and the people of the North ! But in all 
this, there was nothing " new under the sun ;" they were 
but imitating the example and using the tools of that 



19 

demagogue wliO; in the olden time, attempted to dethrone 
his own father. 

In the rebellion of Absalom, the heart of David sank 
within him when he learned that his old friend, his old 
trusted counsellor, had turned against him. And in the 
Slave-mongers' rebellion, what grave fears were aroused 
in our minds when, at the commencement, we heard now 
of one, and then of another of our former statesmen — offi- 
cers of our armj, and of our navj, many of whom the 
nation had trusted, honored and even educated, but now as 
very ingrates turned against it. We asked in deep solici- 
tude, Where will this defection end ? Who will maintain 
their integrity amid so many that are faithless ? Sad were 
our misgivings as we thought of the influence and wisdom 
of the statesmen, and the warlike skill and science which 
would be arrayed against us in the mighty contest which 
seemed to be so near at hand. 

Our feelings and fears were much the same as David's, 
upon hearing that his old familiar friend, whom he had 
trusted, and with whom he had so often taken counsel 
about the affairs of the nation, had abandoned him and 
gone over to the side of his unnatural son. And as our 
circumstances, feelings and fears bear so strong a resem- 
blance to his, so was the burden of our prayers to Almighty 
God, in substance the same, which he offered in that ex- 
tremity. His prayer was, that the counsel which Ahitho- 
phel gave Absalom might be turned unto foolishness ; and 
that prayer was heard, for "The Lord had appointed to 
defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, to the intent that 
the Lord might bring evil upon Absalom." The counsel 
of this able statesman is not called good because of its 
being in accordance with what was just and right, but be- 
cause it was well adapted to gain the end desired; and if it 
had been followed, the rebellion must have been successful. 
But God, who governs the unruly wills and affections of 
sinful men, inclined Absalom to follow other counsel, which 
led to his downfall and ruin. 



20 

Our own war has now ended ; the government has main- 
tained its power ; the last rebel army has surrendered. As 
we look back upon the four eventful years just closed, 
we see clearly that had all things turned out as the leaders 
expected, success would either by this time have crowned 
their efforts to establish a slave empire, or else the war 
would still be raging, and might continue to rage for 
years. Let us then notice some of the things upon which 
they relied for success in this contest. 

And first, they calculated largely upon foreign interven- 
tion. Perhaps, when the secret history of the rebellion 
shall be known, it will then be seen that the governments 
of several of the leading nations of Europe had an under- 
standing upon this matter. They desired to see the nation 
divided, and they held out the hope that at the proper 
time the independence of the rebellious States should be 
acknowledged. We do know that at the commencement 
of the rebellion the leaders calculated largely upon receiv- 
ing the aid of this coveted intervention. They had con- 
vinced themselves that this would become absolutely neces- 
sary in order to obtain a supply of cotton. They boasted 
that Cotton was a King to whose dominion all must jdeld. 

But mark how their counsels were turned to foolishness. 
They did not obtain the aid of the desired intervention. 
And why ? Certainly not from any unwillingness on the 
part of some of the leading governments of Europe. They 
showed they had the inclination to meddle in our affairs 
by their undue haste in conceding the rights of belligerents 
to the rebels. 

There were several things which prevented this. First, 
It was an unpopular thing to admit into the family of 
nations a confederacy of Slave mongers. However willing 
many of the ruling classes might have been to have done a 
thing so monstrous — a thing most abominable in the eyes 
of the great masses of the common people — it Avas not 
deemed safe to inflict such an outrage upon their feelings 
and principles. 



21 

It so happened that just when the rebellion commenced, 
there was an oversiipply of cotton and goods manufac- 
tured from that staple in England ; sufficient indeed to 
supply the markets of the world for several years. There 
was, consequently, no very urgent reason for immediate 
interference. A total suspension of the cotton trade was 
just what was most desirable, and if we may rely upon 
statements in the papers, those who were engaged in the 
trade and manufacture of cotton realized profits to the 
enormous amount of five hundred millions of dollars. 

The crops were very light in England and France for 
the first two years of the war, and bread enough to sustain 
and feed the teeming millions of those countries could only 
be obtained from this. These were little unforeseen things 
which had much to do in turning into foolishness the 
counsels of the rebel Ahithophels ; and thus two years of 
precious time were gained; and in the meantime our 
armies were organized and brought under good discipline. 
The Monitor, too, had appeared on the scene of action ; the 
New Ironsides had been completed; some hundreds of 
ships of war were in commission, and what might ha^e 
been done at an earlier period with comparative safety, 
would have been very perilous now. And besides this, the 
certainty that every sea and ocean would swarm with 
privateers, had a wholesome effect in causing the peace to 
be kept. 

Second, They counted largely upon a divided North and 
a united South. A sad delusion ! They learned their error 
when they heard of the mighty uprising of the Northern 
people upon the firing on Fort Sumter. That was a most 
sublime spectacle. There was then a meaning and emphasis 
in old phrases which had been often before used, and that 
without much sense or reason, such as " the people rising 
in the majesty of their strength," that "the country was 
redeemed— disenthralled." This was seen to be true now. 
Corrupt politicians were silent and dared not open their 
mouths. They sank beneath the flood of popular indigna- 



22 

tion, whicli overwhelmed all in its course. We trusted 
that they had gone under to rise no more. But after the 
violence of the flood began to abate, they were seen to 
reappear upon the surface, and tried again to distract the 
country, and in this course they persisted until the fall of 
1861, when all hope of aid from that quarter vanished 
finally and forever ; in the meanwhile the South was be- 
coming more and more hopelessly divided — united it never 
had been. 

Third. They rushed into rebellion, taking it for granted 
that the North had neither the inclination nor the skill to 
engage in war — that they were of a sordid spirit; that they 
would sacrifice everything — honor, manhood, religion and 
the Government, as soon as their business, their profits and 
their trade were endangered. They have had ample time 
to learn into what a dreadful error they were permitted to 
fall. Never did nation meet the demands made upon it 
more cheerfully, whether in men or money; and the close 
of the war has left the Government in possession of an 
army of six or seven hundred thousand men of unsurpassed 
valor and discipline. The contest, instead of exhausting 
the resources of the country, has only fully developed them, 
and showed to ourselves and the world the real power of 
the country. 

Fourth. They further expected to have allies in pestilence 
and in stormy winds and tempest, but in this they have 
been disappointed; as our Southern country has been visited 
with no plague except the plague of war, these four years; 
and that has fallen upon it in the most fearfully destructive 
manner. Nor have storms come to their rescue in destroy- 
ing our navy. 

Fifth. They boasted, too, that slavery was an element 
of strength. But this also has been turned against them. 
Many thousands of slaves left their masters, and to their 
dismay they soon saw them returning with arms in their 
hands, well disciplined and brave soldiers. 

Sixth. And if all else failed it appears that the honored 



23 

head of tte nation was to be murdered, together with all 
who, according to law, could succeed to his office. The 
President, unhappily, was killed, but the nation still lives, 
and is as strong, if not stronger, than ever, standing in the 
very first rank of the great powers of the earth. The office 
rendered vacant was instantly filled by a brave and deter- 
mined man, who bids fair to be no unworthy successor of 
Abraham Lincoln. 

Thus, in every way have the counsels of the rebellion 
been turned into foolishness, and our prayers have been 
answered ; and, no doubt, it was the purpose of God to 
defeat the counsels of the Ahithophels of the rebellion to 
the intent that the Lord might bring evil upon the inhuman 
system of American slavery, and all the abominations to 
which it has given rise. And evil has been brought upon it. 
An attempt was made lo erect a new nation, the corner- 
stone of which should be human slavery. The attempt has 
signally failed, and the system of slavery itself is swept 
away ; the leaders are either fugitives and vagabonds on 
the face of the earth, or are under arrest. Those proud, 
ambitious, and arrogant men have been brought low. 
They have, in one respect, changed places with their 
own slaves, who, when escaping from their cruel bondage, 
were hunted down even with bloodhounds, and for them 
there was no safety either in Slave or Free State — not until 
they reached some friendly foreign soil were they secure. 
And now, there is no refuge for those who demanded and 
called for the enforcement of a fugitive-slave law. They, 
too, are trying to hide and conceal themselves from the 
just vengeance of the Government, against which they have 
rebelled. Now, if never before, are they in a condition to 
sympathize with the poor black man as he fled from a hard 
task master ; as he tried to escape from the lash of the re- 
morseless slave driver. As we contemplate the reversed 
position of the parties, Ave ask, " What hath God wrought?" 
•'This is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes." 
lie is blind who does not see the hand of God in all this. 



24 

It was a sinsrular coincidence that Charleston and Eich- 

O 

raond, the cities which were guilty above all other cities 
within the lines of the rebellion, were first occupied by 
negro troops ; these soldiers of African descent entered 
those proud but fallen cities as conquerors. This was a 
result never dreamed of, never discussed in the early 
counsels of the rebellion. If anything could have been 
more humbling than this, it was the fact that this gigantic 
and wicked rebellion should have been put down under 
the administration of Abraham Lincoln, and that the work 
of reconstruction should devolve upon Andrew Johnson; 
men who rose from the ranks of the people; who be- 
longed to the class upon whom the aristocratic leaders of 
the rebellion looked with contempt. How have all the 
counsels of their Ahithophels been turned into foolishness? 
This is just what might have been expected, when we 
consider the wickedness of the rebellion and the enormous 
crimes which it has committed. Its first heinous crime 
was, that it was an attempt to break up a great and good 
government ; to erect upon its ruins a slave empire. Sla 
very was to be perpetual, to run on, widening and extend- 
ing, generation after generation, until it should fill the en- 
tire land. Who will measure the magnitude of this crime ? 
Perhaps the best description of it is that it is "the sum of 
all villauies." 

And now, we ask, what crime has not the rebellion com- 
mittj 1, or attempted to commit? or rather, we ask, is there 
any crime which it is possible for men to commit, which it 
would not have perpetrated rather than fail in its object ? 
It would sooner have embroiled the whole civilized world 
in war and bloodshed than not to have succeeded. This 
amount of evil it did not actually commit, but it made 
most persistent attempts, and failed, not for the want of 
will, but because it lacked the power to do all the mischief 
which it would. 

It attempted to bring about a state of anarch}' in all the 
loyal States; to set county against county, city against 



25 



citj, and class against class. It attempted to burn our 
Northern cities ; to make raids across our Canadian bor- 
der; to commit piracy on tlie lakes and on tlie ocean. 
Yesi with diabolical malevolence, it even made the attempt 
to introduce plague and pestilence into the densely-crowded 
population of our Northern cities. The fact has been dis- 
closed, that garments infected with yellow fever were sent 
into our cities for this wicked purpose. Such counsels as 
these must have been suggested by Satan himself. These 
are some of the things they attempted, but in which they 
met with but partial success. But what were the things 
in which thev succeeded? They succeeded in teaching 
men that they might perjure themselves, and yet be hou 
orable men, good men, Christian men. They confiscated 
hundreds of millions of dollars which they owed to North- 
ern men, besides robbing the Government of many millions 



more 



They succeeded in bringing on a war,— a war by sea and 
land,— a war which has desolated some of the fairest por- 
tions of our country,— a war which has carried mourning 
into every town and village in the land,— a war in which 
hundreds of thousands of lives have been sacrificed, and 
thousands of millions of treasure expended. Another of 
their crimes was to massacre our prisoners,— a deed ot 
cruelty which in our day was considered as belonging to 
men in a savage and barbarous state ; and to this must be 
added the inhuman treatment of our prisoners of war with 
even more savage cruelty, slowly murdering them by de- 
priving them of necessary food, and exposure to ram and 
storm, heat and cold. This is a crime which it is hard to 
forgive, and what aggravates it beyond measure, is the fact 
tha° Southern Christianity approved of and sanctioned this 
barbarism,— sanctioned it certainly by its silence. For as 
yet there is no evidence that any body of Christians, m its 
ecclesiastical capacity, condemned or protested against it. 
In fact, there is as yet no evidence that a single Christian 



26 

minister of any body of Christian people raised his voice 
against it. 

This I am afraid will be a great obstacle in the way of 
the restoration of Christian communion with our Southern 
people. I know not what they will be able to say in their 
defence. It looks now as if their very Christianity had 
been barbarized, and as if the spirit of the inquisition had 
reappeared in a new form in the hearts of those calling 
themselves Christians, who live in the midst of and are 
surrounded by the baleful influences of slavery. We all 
feel glad that our Government did not yield to the pres- 
sure that was brought to bear upon it to retaliate this great 
wrong. All of us felt at times that this ought to be done; 
but when we reflected that our Government was great and 
powerful, and that cruelty was an evidence of weakness ; 
when we remembered that we were a Christian nation, 
whose lot was cast in the last half of the nineteenth cen- 
tnrj, we generally arrived at the conclusion of an eminent 
physician. This physician felt a deep interest in our re- 
turned prisoners. When he beheld their horrible con- 
dition, his first impulse was that the Government must re- 
taliate ; but he yielded to better feelings. He thought if 
the v/orst of the rebel leaders were placed in his power to 
punish them as they deserved, he could not have found it 
in his heart to have treated them in that barbarous manner, 
much less the common soldiers. He remembered the 
words, " Vengeance is mine : I will repay, saith the Lord." 
As he looked upon the living skeletons of our poor prison- 
ers, he saw evidence of the downfall of the rebellion. The 
full conviction took fast hold of his mind, that Divine ven- 
geance must overthrow and destroy a power which could 
be guilty of such inhumanity. There were other crimes 
the rebellion was guilty of which I pass over, and hasten 
to the last and greatest. The measure of its iniquity was 
filled up when it murdered the President on Good Friday 
evening. It did on that occasion attempt to do more, but 
only succeeded in assassinating our President. Alas ! that 



27 

one so great and good should have so fallen ; but perliaps 
this was necessary to disclose to tlie world the true spirit 
of the rebellion, Abraham Lincoln had been marked as 
a victim from the first; but in the good providence of 
God, the hands of his murderers were holden until his 
work was done — the rebellion crushed. 

He had his work assigned him by God, and was the fit- 
ting human instrument for the work that was to be done ; 
just as much so as Washington was the man for his times. 
Of that day, we say, the times needed a Washington, and 
a Washington was suited for the times. So the peculiar 
emergency created by the slave-holder's rebellion required 
just such an one as Abraham Lincoln, and God provided 
the man needed. He was fitted for the crisis by tlie local- 
ity of his birth, which was in a Border Slave State, He 
had, in his early years, a good opportunity of seeing how 
heavily the system of slavery pressed upon that class of 
whites to which he belonged : the non-slaveholding part of 
the people. He was fitted for his position by his early 
training. He had to struggle with difiiculties and hard- 
ships. He was a self-made man, possessed of a vigorous 
body and a sound understanding. He was fitted for his 
position by his honesty, his truthfulness, by the sincerity 
of his character. He was also a good man, a conscientious 
man, one who feared God, His last inaugural address was 
a model of its kind, and differed widely from those of 
former years. It was, indeed, said it was not statesman- 
like. Perhaps not, if judged of by other similar addresses 
which hardly come up in their moral tone to that degree of 
morality which Heathen Eome had attained. We are sure, 
however, that it was just such a document as we might 
expect to come from a God-fearing and Christian man. 

Abraham Lincoln was a man of the people. He under- 
stood and spoke the language of the people, and knew how 
to put a great thought or argument in a few plain and 
simple words. Many of his sayings are like proverbs, and 
proverbs, we know, are the practical wisdom of men con- 



28 

densed in a. few brief sentences. Never was a man called 
to a high office in more perilous times. But he accepted 
the trust which Providence had imposed upon him, and 
how well he fulfilled it the history of the last four years 
show, and will show to all time. 

We only knew how much we loved and honored him 
w^hen he was basely assassinated. We thought it could 
not be. We mourned and wept as never did nation for its 
ruler. 

There are two journeys of Abraham Lincoln which will 
be memorable in the history of the country. The first was 
when he left his own quiet home in the west, asking the 
prayers of his neighbors as he started for the seat of gov- 
ernment to assume the office which his country had con- 
ferred upon him. We followed him as he proceeded on 
his way in the accounts which appeared in the papers. 
We read the brief, but significant speeches which he deliv- 
ered in towns and cities through which he passed. We 
were charmed with their plainness. We desired to know 
more of the man's mind whom the people delighted to 
honor. We were startled when we heard that he had been 
compelled to hasten in disguise, to escape those wicked 
men who were prepared to cut him off, even before he 
could take the oath of office, or reach the seat of govern- 
ment. 

In Washington he spent four eventful years, and who 
can tell all he endured, all he suffered — the amount of 
«are and anxiety which pressed upon him with almost 
crushing weight in those weary years ! How patient he 
was ! how forbearing ! how forgiving ! but withal firm and 
immovable as a rock in his efforts to maintain the honor 
and integrity of the Government. As his term of office 
drcAV to a close, he was re-elected in order to carry on to 
completion the great work which had prospered so well in 
his hands. 

He enters upon his new term of office and fills it for little 
more than a month, during which time the rebellion re- 



29 

ceived its cleatli-blow. He is permitted to enter tlie capital 
of tlie Eebel Empire, which had fallen to rise no more. He 
is again in Washington, where, with his heart full of kind- 
ness and good-will to those in arms against the Govern- 
ment, he is stricken down, and a nation mourns his death. 

And now, his unconscious body is borne in its journey 
back again to the place from whence he had come. Never 
did so many honest and sincere mourners attend a funeral 
before. Never was there such a funeral procession, which 
extended through States and was protracted for many days 
passing through our largest cities. 

The people in millions crowded to get a last sad view 
of him now silent in death, and then wept again. And 
now the funeral is over; his mortal remains repose amidst 
his old friends and neighbors, out in the great West. He 
seemed to come to an untimely end, but, perhaps, he fell 
at the most fitting time for his own fame. Evermore, 
hereafter, as we tell our children of our Washington, the 
father of his country, we shall speak to them of Abraham 
Lincoln, the saviour of his country ; and never will men 
cease to denounce his murder as a crime the most enormous 
ever committed in this or any other age ; a crime which 
has not only filled our hearts with grief and sorrow, but 
has sent a thrill of horror throughout the whole civilized 
world. 

And now our long and bloody war has ended. Soon our 
victorious armies will be disbanded and return to their 
homes in triumph. It is cause of devout thankfulness 
that our cause has succeeded, that the counsels of the rebel 
Ahithophels have been turned into foolishness at home and 
abroad. We have succeeded, too, with the ruling classes 
throughout the world against us. And we know and feel 
that the country is, and must be, "one and inseparable." 
But great duties now press upon us. Let us rise up and 
discharge them, in reliance upon the grace and aid of our 
God. Christian men must now labor and toil for the tem- 
poral and eternal welfare of our beloved country as they 



/ 



30 

never have clone before. Tliey must put forth mighty and 
unceasing efforts to counteract the great flood uf evil which, 
in manifold forms, has flowed and is flowing in upon the 
land, the sad consequences of the fearful war just ended. 
Crippled and maimed soldiers in countless thousands have 
been thrown upon us. And who will count the number of 
widows and orphans ? And then, too, there are the millions 
of freed blacks. And Southern society is largely disor- 
ganized. Here is a great work for Christians : a work which 
in magnitude almost equals that which was thrown upon the 
Church at the downfall of the Roman Empire. Most weighty 
and interesting are our duties. Will we be found faithful 
to our countiy and to our God? 



LE%'I3 



